Response of two banana cultivars to differents irrigation depth

Abstract

With the objective of evaluating the effects of different irrigation depths in the culture of the banana tree, it was carried out an experiment in Curu Valley Experimental Farm, in the County of Pentecoste, Ceará, Brazil. The experiment was constitued of four irrigation levels (T1 – 1.5 ECA; T2 – 1.0 ECA; T3 – 0.75 ECA; T4 – 0.5 ECA) with split plot for the cultivars ‘Prata Anã’ and ‘Pacovan’. The differentiated irrigations began on the 4o month of cultivation and, at the time of the harvest, it was evaluated the quantitative effect of hands per bunch, number of bananas per hand, weight of the bunch and productivity variables, through variance analysis and regression. It was also analyzed the qualitative effect of the two cultivars (‘Prata Anã’ and ‘Pacovan’) by test of Tukey. The obtained data revealed significant difference between the two cultivates. The number of hands per bunch and number of bananas per hand variables were larger for the cultivar ‘Prata Anã’ and, the weight of the bunch and productivity, larger for the ‘Pacovan.’ There was no significant effect of the variables on number of hands per bunch and number of bananas per hand. In the other hand, the weight of the bunch and the productivity increased, significantly, with the increase of the irrigation levels, and the largest values were obtained with the applied maximum level and for cultivar ‘Pacovan’. Contrarily, the largest efficiency of water use was obtained for the smallest applied level.